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“Fly-In” & “BBQ” LaGrange airport Nov6th

October 19th, 2010, 10:21 PM

Gene Clark is one of our members of the So. Texas Tbird Club and also a member of the Austin club. He sent me this email regarding the upcoming "Fly-In & "BBQ" at the LaGrange Regional airport, NOT at the airstrip by Lance Harrington's shop. Here is what he had to say.

"The November 2010 meeting of the Capital City Thunderbird Club will be the road trip to the “Fly-In” and “BBQ” at the LaGrange airport November 6th. As in the past years we will caravan with the Austin Thunderbird Owners Club to LaGrange. So, get the bird out, shine it up and let’s go for a ride. One Change for this year is that we must give the airport a head count for the BBQ. So, it is essential that everyone wanting to participate in the BBQ, MUST R.S.V.P. to Ron Sellers no later than close of business OCTOBER 24TH . RSVP to: PROSWAC@SWBELL.NET Hopefully I will see you there."

I hope to make this event with Rose! Those of you in Texas should try to make it also! I am told that it is always a blast. Lance told me they do this every month. It is a benefit to raise money for a charity, whose name I forgot. They had some 80 aircraft fly in last month, including a P-51, a Corvair, a DC-3, and many other planes. They had about 60 Tbirds show up and other cars. If you plan on attending, RSVP so they know how many to feed. They ask a $7 donation for the food, and there is no charge for the event. They feed from around 11am-1pm or so.

I had a great time at the "Fly-In & Drive-In" & BBQ at La Grange! There were four different Tbird car clubs that convoyed in. There were clubs from Austin, Houston, me from San Antonio, and one other city. It was quite impressive to see a half dozen to a dozen Tbirds coming rolling through the gate one after another, several times over, as the different groups drove in. Everything from Babybirds, Squarebirds, (no '58's or '60's though), several Bulletbirds and Flairbirds, and a good number of beautiful Retro-Birds. Then there were the airplanes! It was impressive to see them, and one helicopter fly in and take off. There were about 50 airplanes and as many Tbirds in attendance. They do this once a month, on the first Saturday of the month! The BBQ was great, and so was the camaraderie and the friendship. Here is a picture of Yellow Rose and the Dream Weaver on the taxi strip as we are pre-flighting our Birds for take off. It was the only yellow and white airplane there and the owner and I got together before he took off so we could get some pictures together. I am putting a web page together to show you.

Comment

Here is some additional information on the owner of Dreamcatcher that I took the pictures of. This is from Phil Cline, of Lockhart, the owner of Dreamcatcher.

"Ray- a little background for your picture collection. N6665 Dreamcatcher is the second of my airplanes to wear this number. The first was an open cockpit wooden plane designed for aerobatics and sport flying and first flew in 1969. The present plane is a RV-6A powered with a 180hp Lycoming and fixed pitch prop. It is equipped for day VFR flying. Colors are Dodge Viper 2003 yellow, 1994 Ford Wimbledom white and a custom purple. Paint is polyurethane by Kirker paints. I painted it, but failed to notice the very high temperatures in august and did not get a good job. Polyurethanes are very sensitive to the proper activator! I can duplicate the quality at a moments notice tho! Ted (his building friend) and I have been helping Rv builders finish their airplanes for several years at Lockhart and have helped complete 16 including our own. We have also built other planes over the years. Ted is currently building a RANS S-19 Light Sport for himself and I am helping complete a S-19 for another builder in Lockhart. Phil"

Comment

Phil Cline has enjoyed the pictures I took of his Dreamcatcher and Yellow Rose together, and the web page. He responded with this information, which I though ya'll might enjoy.

"The Rv series of planes are the most popular kit airplanes in the world. RV stands for Richard Van Gunderson and the dash number identifies the design sequence. Van is the designer and owner of the company and one of the leading authorities on aircraft. The airframe kits sell for around $27k and do not include engines, props and electronics. Kits later than the -6 are manufactured with CAD controlled machines and the forming and holes are all in the metal. A day Visual Flight Rules (VFR) airplane will cost the builder between $55 to $95k depending on choices in engine size and electronic complexity. The factory is located in Aurora, Oregon and the latest report is over 7000 flying over a 30 year period.

I have the larger engine and routinely cruise at 175 miles per hour. Top speed is around 200! Gas milage will suffer at the higher speeds. The RV series is the most popular homebuilt in the world due to it wonderful handling and speed. I will make it a point to find you at the next tbird get together. Many of us have also had tbirds! Phil"

If you would like to read more about the interesting RV aircraft, here is their web site.

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